Friday, July 28, 2017

The future has arrived, and it's in the form of a sleek electric sports car that is powered by the sun. Produced by Melbourne, Australia-based EVX Ventures, the exciting new car is named the Immortus. The two-seater electric can reportedly travel an unlimited distance on a sunny day thanks to 75 sq. ft. of solar photovoltaic paneling which is installed on its back window.

Originally funded by Australia's Aurora Solar Car Team, the solar race car weighs only 1,212 pounds — making it extremely lightweight and aerodynamically-designed for the road.

Because of the solar panels installed on its rear, the Immortus only needs a small 10 kWh lithium-ion battery to power its dual electric motors. On non-sunny days or in the evening, the vehicle has a driving range of 248 miles. When the sun is shining, however, the sleek car can travel an infinite number of miles — as long as one's speed remains around 37 mph. EVX Ventures estimates that if one increases their range to 53 mph, the Immortus will have a total driving range of about 342 miles on a sunny day.

Inhabitat relays that EVX hasn't yet announced a production time frame. However, the company expects to sell more than 100 units of the electric vehicle, which will be sold for approximately $370,000.

CEO and co-founder of EVX Ventures, Barry Nguyen, made it clear that the company is bringing something new to the market. "We're not trying to be a Tesla. Tesla is a mass manufacturer of cars, we're designers of boutique custom electric cars and aftermarket products," Nguyen said. "There's regulations in the US and Australia that allow for individually constructed vehicles. Essentially what that means is that if you contract a custom car builder with the designs and components, you can build a road legal car without the crash testing and the 5-10 million dollars you'd have to raise to do that. We plan to sell those cars in low volume."

Granted, the price tag is out of reach for most citizens. However, this solar technology will undoubtedly result in more consumer-friendly vehicles becoming electric in a short period of time — and that is a big win for the environment.